DANE COUNTY AREA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY
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Mailing Address: Dane County Area Genealogical Society PO Box 5652 Madison, WI 53705-0652 Society e-mail address: widcags@gmail.com Membership dues for 2013: $23.00/year individual or $28.00/year family ($8.00 discount if you get the newsletter only by e-mail) Membership year is 1 January-31 December Printable 2013 membership form (144 KB PDF file) Or go to our “Work in progress” new website to join or renew online |
Society Organizational Documents (PDF files) Plan of Merger (July 2006) Bylaws (initially adopted August 2006, amended October 2007 and 5 April 2012) Policy and Procedures Manual (last revised October 2007) 
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April 2013 - DCAGS (469 KB PDF file)
March 2013 - DCAGS (1329 KB PDF file)
February 2013 - DCAGS (1035 KB PDF file)
January 2013 - DCAGS (971 KB PDF file)
December 2012 - DCAGS (853 KB PDF file)
November 2012 - DCAGS (890 KB PDF file)
October 2012 - DCAGS (1225 KB PDF file)
September 2012 - DCAGS (894 KB PDF file)
August 2012 - DCAGS (789 KB PDF file)
July 2012 - DCAGS (849 KB PDF file)
June 2012 - DCAGS (495 KB PDF file)
May 2012 - DCAGS (436 KB PDF file)
April 2012 - DCAGS (521 KB PDF file)
March 2012 - DCAGS (644 KB PDF file)
29 February 2012 - DCAGS (550 KB PDF file)
31 January 2012 - DCAGS (299 KB PDF file)
Click here for access to newsletters published prior to 2012.
Note: Many (but not all) of the URLs listed in recent newsletters are “hot links.” If you click on the URL, your browser should go directly to the web page being referenced. (You must be using either Adobe Acrobat Reader version 5 or some version of Adobe Reader for these hotlinks to work.)
President — Walker Crawford (2014)
Vice-President — Jim Benes (2013)
Secretary — DeAnn McAllan (2014)
Treasurer — Joyce Peterson (2013)
Immediate past president — Rollie Littlewood
Standing Committee Chairs:
Membership — Walker Crawford
Public Relations — vacant
Program and Education — Donna Johnson-Schmidt
Newsletter — Patricia L. Skubis
Historian — Sandy Zart
Webmaster — Rollie Littlewood
For elected officers, the final year of their current term in listed after their name
The Governing Board usually meets on the third Tuesday of each month. Contact the society president or see our monthly newsletter to get the time and location.
| Meeting Date | Program Description |
|---|---|
| 3 January 2013 | Family History Projects - Our speaker will be Lori Bessler, Reference Librarian and Outreach Coordinator at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library Archives. There are many ways to share the information you have gathered in your research. Lori will bring examples and help you to find ways to share your information with family members with various interest levels. The speaker has allowed us to post her handout (as a 51 KB PDF file) – click here to view it. |
| 7 February 2013 | DNA for Genealogy - Meeting cancelled due to weather concerns |
| 7 March 2013 | Visit to Salt Lake City - Our speaker will be Shirley Anderson. |
| 4 April 2013 | Researching Your German Roots: Tips for American Genealogists - Our speaker will be Antje Petty, assistant director of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (MKI). This presentation will focus on the special challenges faced by American genealogists who want to research their ancestors from German-speaking Europe. It will address issues such as language, finding names and places of origin, and Antje will offer suggestions of resources online and off, in America and in Europe. |
| 2 May 2013 | Newspaper Nuggets: Going Beyond the Obituary Notice - Our speaker will be Kathy Sparks. Kathy will explore the many items found in historical newspapers that can enrich the story of our ancestor’s lives. These items often go beyond, or may be a substitute for, the obituary notice. Finding our ancestor’s name in a historical newspaper is often a daunting task. We will be looking at some of the methods for finding the newspapers associated with our ancestors, whether online or in repositories. The speaker has allowed us to post her handout (as a 22 KB PDF file) – click here to view it. |
| 6 June 2013 | Our speaker will be Jerry Apps / Topic TBA |
| Saturday 13 July 2013 |
DCAGS will host a “field trip” to the Wisconsin Historical Society library archives.. |
| 1 August 2013 | DNA for Genealogy - Our speaker will be George Spracklin. He will be showing a PowerPoint presentation explaining how DNA sequencing can be used to trace ancestry. The three main types of DNA analyzed (mitochondrial, Y chromosomal, and autosomal) for genealogy will be examined with examples of how each have been used in genealogical studies. |
| 5 September 2013 | Speaker and topic TBA |
| 3 October 2013 | Speaker and topic TBA |
| 7 November 2013 | Speaker and topic TBA |
| 5 December 2013 | Speaker and topic TBA |
Handouts from some earlier DCAGS meetings:
Tip Toe Through the Tombstones, by Ann L. Wells (5 August 2010). Handout (1 page)
Exciting New Developments at FamilySearch, by Maureen Brady (7 October 2010). Handout (15 “slides”; 5 pages) / Presentation (72 “slides”; 36 pages).
Have you tried…? , by James L. Hansen, F.A.S.G (4 November 2010). Handout (1 page).
Finding Those Who Served: Genealogy Resources at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, by Russell Horton (2 December 2010). Handout (1 pages).
Ways to Display Your Family Trees, by Pat Skubis (6 January 2011). Handout (1 page) / Presentation (55 pages).
Genealogical Organization: From Papers to Research, by Ann L. Wells (3 March 2011). Handout (1 page).
Lineage Societies, by Bob Stone and Ruth Simpson (7 April 2011). Daughters of the American Revolution handout (4 pages) Sons of the American Revolution handout (4 pages)
The Power of Yes: A Case Study of Norwegian Immigration to Minnesota, by Joyce I. Nigbor (2 June 2011). Handout (1 page)
Reading Genealogy Books on the Web, by Rollie Littlewood (7 July 2011). Handout (4 pages)
Branches and Leaves Filled in at Last, by Patricia Skubis (4 August 2011). Handout (1 page)
The Flavor of Wisconsin: History and Culture through Recipes, by Terese Allen (1 September 2011). Handout (3 page quiz)
The 1940 Census, by Pat Skubis (2 February 2012). Presentation as PDF file or as PowerPoint file
Getting the Most Out of an Obituary, by George L. Findlen, CGSM (5 April 2012). Handout (2 pages)
The World of Genealogy Webinars, by Rollie Littlewood (3 May 2012). Handout (2 pages)
Revolutionary War & the War of 1812, by Pam Anderson (6 September 2012). Handout (2 pages)
Introduction to DCAGS’ New Online Membership Features, by Walker Crawford (4 October 2012). Handout (1 page)
Using WorldCat for Genealogy, by Rollie Littlewood (4 October 2012). Handout (4 pages) / Screen Shots displayed during talk (18 “slides”)
We’re proud to be an affiliate of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society
DCAGS is a proud member of the Federation of Genealogical Societies
Citing staffing issues, the Wisconsin State Vital Records Office announced in the fall of 2010 that they were suspending all search appointment opportunies from 1 October 2010 until at least 28 February 2011. This office did open again for onsite searches in March, but with a much tighter restriction than before on the frequency of search appointments. Each researcher is now restricted to four hours of on-site searching in a three-month period. Afternoon appointments are no longer available.
The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society is sponsoring its 2013 Gene-A-Rama conference on 5-6 April 2013 in Wausau. Periodically visit the WSGS website for further information as the plans develop for this conference.
Sally Jacobs, a local archivist who operates Jacobs Archival Services in Madison, has informed us that she has started a blog called “The Practical Archivist.” She describes it as “chock full of archiving tips and geeky tidbits for genealogists and keepers of the family photo album – giving away some of my best photo archiving tips at no charge.”
Each spring and fall the Division of Library-Archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society sponsors a series of genealogy classes; these usually meet on Saturday mornings in either the WHS Library in Madison or in the nearby Memorial Library. See Library-Archives Classes and Workshops for more detailed information. The six classes being offered in the fall of 2011 are “Genealogy is For Everyone” (17 September, Lori Bessler), “Ancestry.com” (22 October, Lori Bessler) [repeated 29 October], “Using Archival Collections” (12 November, Rick Pifer), “FamilySearch.org” (3 December, Lori Bessler), and “Online Genealogy” (10 December, Lori Bessler). Click on the title of any class for further details (time, fees, location, class coverage) about that class. Each class has separate registration, some may have limited enrollment. To register, download, print, fill-in, and mail the required registration form. Registration began 15 August 2011. A discount on the registration fee is offered to those who are members of either the Wisconsin Historical Society or the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society.
Are you a beginner at genealogy? Would you like to explore some (free) online guides to getting started in genealogy? Here’s one to try: Indexes to the RootsWeb Guides to Tracing Family Trees
Genealogy classes offered in the Dane County Area
Wisconsin Union Mini-courses
Dates for next set of classes: three Tuesday evenings, 25 September, 2 & 9 October 2012
Location: UW-Madison campus (specific location TBD)
Instructor: Sherry Lloyd
For more information click here
Some other genealogical links of special interest:
- Wisconsin GenWeb site
23 June 2008
- Columbia County GenWeb site
25 March 2007
- Dane County GenWeb site
- Rock County GenWeb site
- Sauk County GenWeb site
23 June 2008
- List of all the Wisconsin county GenWeb sites (many Wisconsin County GenWeb sites changed their URLs in early 2008)
23 June 2008
- Guide to Wisconsin-oriented email discussion lists, especially those at the level of individual counties
(these lists facilitate correspondence and exchange of research suggestions with other genealogists interested in the same area)
- Wisconsin Historical Society
(see especially the links to Library & Archives and to Genealogy)
- Dane County Historical Society
27 May 2012
The DCHS maintains a collection of published and unpublished archival materials relating to Dane County at the Lussier Family Heritage Center. They offer research help, answering genealogical and other research or reference inquiries from the public; see the DCHS website for further information. DCHS has posted or contributed old Dane County plat maps which can be viewed on the web; the 1873 map can be viewed on the DCHS website; the 1861, 1890, 1899, and 1911 maps can be searched for from the home page of the University of Wisconsin Digital Collection. - University of Wisconsin-Madison Archives and Records Management Services
25 February 2009
(see especially the web pages for genealogical resources and for oral history). - Ancestry Library Edition
9 March 2008
This is not a web site which can be accessed from your home, but it can be used from any of the six computers in the Reading Room of the WHS library labeled “Reserved for Genealogical and Federal Document Research ONLY”. Ancestry Library Edition replaces AncestryPlus; it offers most of the databases available with individual subscriptions to <ancestry.com>; it does not include the following collections: Family & Local Histories, Historical Newspapers, OneWorldTree, Filby’s Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI), PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), and Freedman’s Bank Records. Additionally all “personalized features” normally available when using <ancestry.com>, such as surname alerts, are unavailable when using Ancestry Library Edition. For several years, most of the databases available with paid personal subscriptions to <ancestry.com> have been available free of charge at most Family History Centers. This changed in April of 2007; now only about thirty-seven of the databases offered by <ancestry.com> are available on the computers at most Family History Centers. A list of these remaining databases can be seen at <www.ancestry.com/fhc/dblist.aspx>; note that most of these databases include just the indexes – only the three included U.S. census databases include the actual data images. Several other subscription genealogy database services have moved to fill the void left by the nearly complete loss of Ancestry databases at Family History Centers; World Vital Records, Godfrey Memorial Library, Footnote.com, HeritageQuest Online, and Kindred Konnections have all announced that their databases will soon be available at suitably-equipped FHCs, including the one in Madison. Click here for further information on this development. - HeritageQuest Online Index
3 March 2008
This website can be accessed from any of the six computers in the Reading Room of the WHS library labeled “Reserved for Genealogical and Federal Document Research ONLY,” but there is also a high likelihood that it can be accessed from your home (or any other location from which you access the world wide web) for little or no extra cost. Many libraries are making this subscription service available to their members – for instance, most of the fifty-two public libraries in Adams, Columbia, Dane, Green, Portage, Sauk and Wood Counties which belong to the South Central Library System.The URL to start with for SCLS access is <http://www.scls.lib.wi.us/cgi-bin/auth.cgi?connectto=HQ>; you must provide your library card number each time you use this service.
It can be used to search a head-of-household index for most years of the US federal census (currently there are indexes available for twelve years, but only five states have been indexed for the 1930 census). It can be used to browse the images for all years of the US federal census from 1790 through 1930. It can be used to do full-text searches of more than 20,000 (slated to grow to more than 25,000) genealogy and local history publications, and to display images of any individual page in any one of these publications. This resource is now generally the favored access point to PERSI (the Periodical Source Index, from the Allen County Public Library); note that as of March 2008, due to unusual circumstances PERSI indexing is running about a year and a half behind on HeritageQuest Online. - Research Help documents from the Family History Library
This link takes one to a list of a portion of the available Research Help documents which includes those specifically for Wisconsin. By using various sort-order and starting-letter menus on this website, you can get access to virtually all of the Research Help documents published by the FHL. All of these Research Helps are available as a web page or a series of web pages; most are available as [free] downloadable PDF files; some can be ordered as printed documents which will be mailed to you [for a small fee] by the Family History Library. - Online access to The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy and Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources. Ancestry.com has announced that they will no longer publish these two well-regarded references in book form, and have made the contents of the third edition of each reference available online. Click on the name of either book to go to the main page for that reference
20 September 2010
- MadCat (catalog of the Univ.of Wisconsin-Madison libraries, including the computerized portion of the library of the Wisconsin Historical Society)
- ArCat (computerized portion of the catalog of the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society)
- WorldCat (a combined [“union”] catalog database from about 9,000 libraries in the USA [including about 500 in Wisconsin] and forty-four other countries; sometimes referred to as “OCLC” [the corporate sponsor] or “FirstSearch” [the search program itself]).
7 June 2007
This service will help you get publication data for books and other library material which may not be available in your regular library. it will usually NOT tell you for sure if an item can be obtained via InterLibrary Loan, because it does not normally reveal the lending policies of the libraries which hold an item. Individuals who hold library cards in any of the 52 public libraries in Adams, Columbia, Dane, Green, Portage, Sauk and Wood Counties which belong to the South Central Library System can access WorldCat from any computer with Internet access. The URL to start with for SCLS access is <http://www.scls.lib.wi.us/cgi-bin/auth.cgi?connectto=WC>; you must provide your library card number each time you use this service. - Great Lakes Regional Facility (Chicago), National Archives and Records Administration
9 August 2008
(see especially the link to the Archival Holdings Guide for the Great Lakes Region)
- National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records
10 August 2008
- Directory of Wisconsin Libraries 11 June 2007
- Public library systems of Wisconsin (map)
- South Central Library System (encompassing 61 libraries in Adams, Columbia, Dane, Green, Portage, Sauk and Wood Counties)
10 December 2006
(see especially the links to Databases and to connecting to LINKcat--a shared online catalog for 46 of the libraries in the system)
- Information about obituaries published in the Wisconsin State Journal;
use the subject search tool in the local newspapers portion of LinkCat to search the index of obituaries published between 1960 and “a few days ago” 7 June 2008
Note: the entire newspaper index system, including the index to obituaries published in the Wisconsin State Journal between 1960 and 2002, is currently (as of late April 2011) our-of-order, a temporary casualty of the new LINKCat system.Full text of obituaries published between 11/19/2002 to just a few days ago - Arrowhead Library System (encompassing seven libraries in Rock County)
- Milwaukee County Federated Library System (includes fourteen branches of the Milwaukee Public Library and fourteen other city libraries).
26 June 2007
(see especially the Milwaukee Public Library (MPL) and the summary of genealogically-significant records housed at its central branch)
- WISCAT On-Line Catalog (a union catalog for more than 1200 libraries of all types throughout Wisconsin; now includes a connection to BadgerLink)
5 May 2007
- Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne, Indiana) 23 March 2007
The extensive renovation/expansion which you probably heard about has been completed; reports about the new facility have been glowing. Click here to access their online catalog. - Brigham Young University’s Family History Archives search engine
29 February 2008
BYU’s Harold B. Lee Library, the Family History Library, and the Allen County Public Library are working together on a project to eventually digitize over 100,000 out-of-copyright family histories and thousands of local histories. The collections will have every-word search capability; search results are linked to digital (PDF) images of the original publication. A good beginning has been made, but be forewarned that searches can be very time-consuming. Search hits lead to individual pages, but the actual hits are not highlighted on the page. - Information about federal censuses, as provided by IPUMS-USA: Questions, 1850-2000 and Enumerator instructions, 1850-1950 (censuses after 1950 were mostly conducted by self-enumeration)
5 May 2007
- Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center 2 April 2008
(see especially the link to “Resources,” including the Wisconsin Veterans Memorials Catalog)
- State of Wisconsin Blue Book (complete text of every Blue Book issued since 1995, plus selected feature articles dating back to 1983; search capability is included)
- Family History Center – click here to learn about databases available at the Madison Family History Center (in addition to those created by the Family History Library)
5 April 2008
- Do you want to check out the experimental databases available at FamilySearch Labs? Click here to see what’s currently online. Note that some of these databases are searchable, while others are only browsable.
26 July 2008
- Max Kade Institute (resources for research in German genealogy)
4 May 2007
See especially the web page on genealogical resources, including a listing of the genealogical holdings in their library. (Beware: this website uses “frames” technology.)
- Norwegian-American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library (formerly known as the Vesterheim Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library; resources for research in Norwegian and Norwegian-American genealogy)
21 June 2012
Handouts available at the May 2007 DCAGS meeting included a listing of the data collections the NAGCNL holds and a research questionnaire one should fill out when requesting that the NAGCNL do research for you.
See a listing of recent library acquisitions on the NAGCNL Library web page.
- Wisconsin Vital Records Office – click here to learn about vital records indexes available in this office
10 August 2008
- Dane County Register of Deeds Office
- Forest Hill Cemetery (Madison) This website now provides the ability to search burial records by name or lot number (a spot check iindicated that burials are listed within three weeks of their occurrence)
7 June 2008
- Online Searchable Death Indexes & Records This website has an extensive directory of links to websites with online death indexes, listed by state and county throughout the U.S.A.. Included are death records, death certificate indexes, death notices & registers, obituaries, probate indexes, and cemetery & burial records.
10 March 2010
- Upcoming genealogical events in the region (Wisconsin & surrounding states)
- Family History Center – click here to learn about databases available at the Madison Family History Center (in addition to those created by the Family History Library)
The Dane County Genealogical Society (formerly known as the South Central Chapter of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society)
and the Computer Assisted Genealogists of Southern Wisconsin (formerly known as the South Central Wisconsin PAF Users Group)
merged in September of 2006 to form the Dane County Area Genealogical Society
There have been
Note: This home page can now be reached by entering just “dcags.org” into the location or address field of most browsers.
(The “official” URL of “http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~widcags/” still works as well.)
This site is maintained by Rollie Littlewood
Copyright © 2001-2013 by Dane County Area Genealogical Society. All rights reserved.
This site may be freely linked to but not duplicated in any fashion without our consent.
This page was last modified on 22 May 2013
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